Final Peek

UPDATE: Sergio is SOLD!! Thank you!
This is the final peek at "Sergio" before his unveiling at 9 pm ET tonight on the EHAG Emporium. There are soooooo many talented artists in the EHAG group so if you are a fan of Halloween this is the place to look!!! "Serg" will be looking for you!!


Hope to see you there!!
Laurie

Sneak Peek #3

Here is sneak peek number three of "Serg". He has a little pumpkin buddy painted on his bucket and you can see his spindly little fingers. If you look closely at his arm and fingers you can see how they were painted to resemble the bark on vines.


This piece and other Halloween goodies will be available Wednesday night at 9 pm, ET, on the EHAG Emporium!!
http://ehagemporium.blogspot.com/

Laurie

Another Peek at "Sergio"

Another peek at little "Sergio", or "Serg" as his friends call him. He has skinny little vine-like arms and fingers and loves his bling. Lots of detail in the painting on this little fellow to capture the texture of a vine.


"Serg" will debut on Wednesday, March 31!! Hope you like him!!

Enjoy your Sunday!
Laurie

EHAG Emporium Updates on Wednesday Night!!

How time flies!!! Below is a sneak peek at my upcoming EHAG Emporium piece for the month of March (it has 31 days...so it is time again). The Emporium opens it's doors for the second time on Wednesday, the 31st, at 9 pm ET. (8 Central, 7 Mountain, 6 Pacific)

http://ehagemporium.blogspot.com/

I will give you a few more peeks over the next few days of this piece and there will be other artists' sneak peeks posted on the EHAG Emporium as well, so go give it a look!!

I just received a message that fellow PFATT member, Penny McAllister, lost her fight with leukemia this afternoon. Penny's family now needs your thoughts and prayers. We lost a really great one today.

Here is wishing you a wonderful weekend and remember to let your loved ones know how much you care for them.
Laurie

Penny McAllister

Recently I was involved with a fundraising activity called the "Penny Tree", and many of you will remember the PFATT ladies created ornaments for a tree in support of Penny McAllister, who is fighting leukemia. Penny took a turn for the worse yesterday, and I am asking for healing prayers for this creative lady as well as prayers for her family struggling with this difficult situation. If you aren't a religious person, may I ask you to send healing thoughts or positive energy to Penny. She needs help with this battle against cancer.

Here is a link to Penny Vs. Cancer blog
http://www.pennymcallisterupdate.blogspot.com/

Thank you!!
Laurie

Sculpting, Sculpting

It is back to sculpting this week, and then some more sculpting so that I can build up my inventory of Halloween pieces. I worked on an over-sized pumpkin head last night, and I'm actually excited to get his little arms and hands done so he can dry while I plan his painting design. (I put a finished pumpkin head piece in the background so that you can see how exaggerated his head is in proportion to his body.) I think he has potential.

I also sculpted a bucket for this figure and made two larger buckets that I think might be turned into Halloween candy buckets for other figures...big figures.

I decided to take time to go thrift and antique shop hunting this morning and found a lovely $150 antique Halloween paper lantern, which didn't come home with me. I did come home with a rhinestone Halloween-colored brooch for an upcoming project, however, and some stainless steel containers for storing studio items in. I've decided to go out again in two weeks to see what else I can find!! It was fun and I found some really wild things I need to think about between now and then....decisions, decisions!!

Hope you had a great day too!
Laurie

Elwood Wants Equal Time

Okay, here is a post for Elwood....he was a bit upset with the fact that Jake got his picture on the blog over the weekend and he didn't. Hopefully, this will restore peace on the studio table this week. (giggle)

I'm not able to work without them and that is just fine with me!!

Have a great week creating and don't forget to give your fur buddies a hug for me!
Laurie

Jake and Me

The sun is shining so the two of us are having a great day of painting...yes, Jake did manage to get that big ole' monkey tail in the mixed paint. (Good thing he doesn't mind a good tail washing. )

Have a great day!!
Laurie

"Teacher's Pet" Update

As promised, here are the photos of "Teacher's Pet" in his completed state. The school colors are blue and gold so his sweater vest is done in that color scheme along with his bow tie and the stripes on his socks and shirt sleeves. I also two-toned the penny loafers to make the detail stand out more.

UPDATE: I'm so pleased to tell you that "Teacher's Pet" sold at the Class Act Banquet and helped raise money for the upcoming school projects in the 2010-11 school year! Thank you Tanya!


Close up of his head, pencils and book shown below. Thought I would inscribe "sketchbook" on the cover, but leaving it open lets the new owner determine the contents of the book he is holding.

Tiny graphite encased wood pencils with pink erasers were added (actually made from wood picks), a polka dot bow tie and skinny branch like fingers are shown in the close up below.

Hope you like the end result!! A couple days to let the glues dry and he is off to school.

Off to go paint in the sunshine now so have a great afternoon!!
Laurie

"Teacher's Pet"

I am off to the studio table to work on "Teacher's Pet" today, and hopefully to finish him. Occasionally, I'm asked to donate work to local groups or sometimes to the online groups that I belong to as giveaway items or in this case to help with fundraising. I work so slowly that often it is difficult for me to fit everything in, but I feel it is important to give back when you can.

Late last fall I was contacted regarding the donation of a piece for our local school system's fundraising event this month, and of course I said yes...after all, where did I get my interest in art and have such fabulous art instruction under Paul Fell, but in a public school system. I don't know if Paul realizes the important impact he had on me as as my art instructor, but he certainly is a major reason I pursued art as a career. Teachers can be very special people that help guide us into the adults we become, so as I was creating this piece and thinking back to my school days, I thought of Paul.

This is what evolved from those memories. School books, wood pencils, penny loafers and of course an "apple" for the teacher. My husband looked at the piece and made a comment about being the teacher's pet, and that became the title of the piece. It just seemed to fit.

He is my first apple headed figure, and let me tell you the painting on this little head was a challenge. I do think he looks very "apple-like" though, and that is what I was going for. I have the little sweater vest, hands, and base to paint so when he is completed I will post an update for you to see.

This work will be auctioned off in just a little over a week so I better get him finished!! I hope he makes you smile and coaxes someone to be generous to help make the fundraiser a success!!

Have a great week!
Laurie

Two Long-Legged Boys Available on SpookyTime Jingles Friday Night!!

Hmmmm...a little pastel coloring and some Halloween mischief will be available Friday night (the 12th) at midnight EST, (11 pm Central, 10 pm Mountain, 9 pm Pacific) from Monkey-Cats Studio.

"Purkins Goodnight" and "Winston Wabbit" will be searching for new homes to keep them warm (poor Winston even has his bunny slippers on!). They are tired of the Plains' winter this year and they are hoping they can find a location with Spring beginning to warm the air to help uplift their spirits. Do you know of such a place?


I have seen some of the "sneak peeks" being shown by the other artists of SpookyTime Jingles this month and it promises to be a visual delight to tempt collectors!!! Don't miss out!

Happy shopping Friday night!!!
Laurie

"Purkins Goodnight"

"Purkins Goodnight" is finished and ready for his debut. "Purkins" is the first cat to come from Monkey-Cats Studio with a crook in his hat, a full curled tail and an egg shaped body, all which make him a pretty unique character for 2010.

As with many of my figures there is a story about this little guy. "Purkins" comes from a long line of black cats from the rural high plains. The family name, "Goodnight", came from a farmer's wife. One summer, night after night she would hear the cats howling in the farm yard outside her bedroom, and finally one evening after a day of hard work she couldn't take the feline serenade any longer. She went to the window and yelled to the fur-boys below, "enough already, good night!!" To her surprise, the howling stopped. The next night she tried it again and the howling stopped again. Eventually, the tone of her voice became more gentle, almost like the Walton family's nightly exchange, and she received the same response from the cats -- silence. Finally, she began to simply say, "good night" out the window to the gathering below. As the cats began to raise kittens the question finally was asked , "what is our name?" Well, "Goodnight" of course was the response, just ask the farmer's wife. And so it was that the "Goodnight" clan was established.


"Purkins" comes from the second generation of the "Goodnight" family. Still a little more country in his taste, he favors polka dots and sweater vests over pin stripes and fitted garments. The farmer's wife found him very charming when he was a tiny kitten and named him Perkins, but his mother misspelled the name on his birth certificate and so he became known as "Purkins." Kind of like Oprah was suppose to actually be Orpah....but the name was misspelled. It happens.

A happy little feline, it is said that if you just give him a scratch under the chin he will purr like there is no tomorrow. Perhaps his mother was correct in the spelling of his name..."Purkins" seems to fit him quite nicely!

I'm off to work on my SpookyTime Jingles' update!! You will find this little fellow amongst the offerings for the month on Friday night at midnight. Let's hope he makes it a good night!!

Laurie

Birds of Prey and Painting on a New Cat

I don't know whether it is the weather or not, but something has turned my cats into maniacs and they are running around the house like crazy today. That doesn't create the best conditions for trying to paint since they are bouncing off of any surface they run by, including my studio table!! Some of my lines are going to have to be repainted! Anyway, here is a sneak peek at the cat WIP I'm working on. Still much to get done, but I am making progress splashing paint on the figures that were just raw paper mache last week. I hope to finish him by tomorrow.


On another note, we have a predator in our yard again, but it wasn't the kestrel this time. We had noticed the squirrels weren't out and about in the yard over the weekend and the birds weren't feeding on the bird feeders. Hubby noticed something large fly by the window and land on our fence and look what it is...another raptor!!! We have a birding friend looking at the picture because the hawk is in his winter color and also appears to be a juvenile. I think it might be a Goshawk, but will let Brian confirm that for us. (UPDATE: I'm wrong, it is a Cooper's Hawk according to Brian and he would know.) Who would have thought!! It surprises me since we also have owls in the neighborhood and the two are notorious for not getting along.


Oh, the wonders of nature!!

Have a great week all...back to the paint for me!
Laurie

EHAG Emporium Giveaway

Painting today, but took a break because I wanted to make sure to let you know to go to the EHAG Emporium and leave a comment weekly during the month of March. EHAG is hosting a series of giveaways this month...nothing better than to win an original from one of these artists!! EHAG is the acronym for the Eclectic Halloween Artists Group and creating Halloween "goodness" is what they are all about!!

Click on the logo above and it will take you directly to the EHAG Emporium blog. Good luck!!!

Laurie

"Winston" Is Done, Now On To Little Squash Head

I finished "Winston" yesterday after painting his bucket, Easter egg, stockings and bunny slippers, and putting German glass glitter on his bow tie. Here he is amongst his works-in-progress buddies!!

Those silly slippers took me hours to paint, but "Winston" likes the look so isn't that really all that matters? After all, you can't name something like "Puff" and "Fluff", and not give them some detail and character.

I also decided to carry the circle motif from Winston's body onto the top border of his Easter bucket, and then painted a coordinating egg. I had some lovely Bethany Lowe tinsel that matched the German glass glitter on Winston's bow tie so I used it like Easter grass to give a cushion for the painted egg to be placed in. I think it all helps pull his look together.

"Winston" is now a happy little wabbit!!

Below, is a new little squash head I worked on last night. So much work yet to be done on him, but his head just clicked for me and that made me a very happy painter. He hasn't told me his name yet so I will have to introduce you at a later date.

We have sunshine today and we are suppose to be in the 40s so I am thrilled!! Off to the studio to go soak up some of that sunshine!

Have a great day!
Laurie

Winston Wabbit WIP

Crazy weekend here with me not getting as much done in the studio as I had hoped, but I did make some progress on what I think will be my last "Wabbit" of the season, "Winston". I finished his first layer of facial paint yesterday and worked on his egg body on Friday, but there is still much to be done. Below is "Winston" amongst his naked WIP (works in progress) buddies! (He has a bucket and bow tie, but they are being painted separately, and I didn't put them in the photographs.)


Winston loves his bunny slippers, "Puff" and "Fluff". They keep his toes warm!

Below is a close up of "Winston's" face. I still have some finish work to do on his face and as you can see I have lots of painting to finish on his Easter egg decorated body.

What was I thinking when I sketched out his body paint design? Circles inside circles with stripes...remind me not to do that again because I then have to outline them with the finishing color to antique the surface.

Hope you like him! I'm off to the studio table to start painting again...have a great week!

Laurie